DiNapoli Steps Down From DACC

Assemblyman Tom DiNapoli, a Nassau County Democrat and state comptroller candidate, just informed me that he has resigned his post as co-chair of the Democratic Assembly Campaign Committee.

DiNapoli insisted his departure from this political post had nothing to do with his desire to be comptroller, nor was it influenced by the decision of one of his rivals for the statewide job, Rochester-area Assemblyman Joseph Morelle, to give up his chairmanship of the Monroe County Democratic Party.

DiNapoli could not recall how long he had been DACC’s co-chair, but said it has been a number of years, before which he served as the committee’s Long Island regional chair.

“I think I’ve more than been helpful in supporting the Democratic majority, and I’ve felt for a while that it was time for someone else to do this,” DiNapoli said. “It’s a time of new beginnings and I’m moving in other directions.”Â

Here’s a twist: According to the DACC Website, Morelle is the campaign commitee’s Rochester vice chair.

DiNapoli said he informed his fellow DACC co-chair, Assemblyman Ronald Canestrari, D-Cohoes, as his decision to depart earlier this week.

UPDATE: It appears both Canestrari and DiNapoli have held their co-chair positions since 1997.

The DACC posts do not come with stipends (lu-lus) as they are not legislative jobs.

What’s amazingÂ is how people who were heretofore political animals are striving to disassociate themselves from politics in an attempt toÂ appear “independent,” which is a trait Gov. Eliot Spitzer, through his clear preference for an “outsider” comptroller candidate, seems to want.

TheÂ ironic thing is, with the exception of Republican Andrew Eristoff, who has said he won’t run for the comptroller’s office in 2010 if he gets it now, whoever wins this contest is going to have to resume his/her political mantle in four years to be a statewide candidate.